Electronic gaming machine (EGM) manufacturers strive to make EGMs that provide as much enjoyment, entertainment, and excitement as possible for players. Providing interesting and exciting primary or base games and secondary or bonus games in which a player has an opportunity to win potentially large awards (such as credits) is one way to enhance player enjoyment and excitement. Certain known EGMs use mechanical devices such as reels, wheels, or spheres to enhance the attraction of the gaming machines to players and also to enhance the player's game playing experience. These mechanical devices enable a player to see physical movements of a game, a portion of a game, or a functional game event or element, which increases the player's enjoyment of the game.
In one known slot EGM, the EGM includes a plurality of reels and one or more paylines. Such EGMs include any suitable number of reels, such as three to five reels, which each display any suitable number of symbols per reel, such as three symbols per reel. In these EGMs, the player initiates the spinning of the reels by making one or more wagers on one or more paylines. Such EGMs may have one, three, five, nine, fifteen, twenty-five, or any other suitable number of paylines that are horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or any combination thereof. One type of EGM includes a payline associated with each possible combination of symbol positions, wherein each payline passes through only one symbol position on each reel. The player wagers on a player selected number or combination of paylines, such as one, two, three, five, ten, or fifteen paylines, and the reels are activated to spin.
The reels spin and generate a plurality of symbols, and the EGM analyzes the generated symbols to determine if the EGM has randomly generated a winning symbol or winning symbol combination on or along one or more of the wagered-on paylines. Any awards associated with any winning symbols or winning symbol combinations generated along any wagered-on paylines are provided to the player.
In these EGMs, the awards provided to the player are generally based on the number of paylines that pass through each of the winning symbol combinations. That is, the EGM separately analyzes each wagered-on payline to determine if a winning symbol combination is generated on that payline. For each occurrence of each payline passing through a winning symbol combination, the EGM provides the player the award associated with that winning symbol combination. For example, in a five reel EGM, if four related symbols (that form a winning symbol combination) are generated by the first four reels and twelve paylines pass through the first three of those related symbols (i.e., three paylines running left to right pass through all four related symbols and nine paylines running left to right pass through the first three related symbols), the EGM provides the player twelve awards (i.e., one award for each payline that passes through the winning symbol combination). These twelve separate awards are each for the single occurrence of the winning symbol combination including the four related symbols. Accordingly, in a EGM with wagering on paylines, the greater the number of wagered-on paylines that pass through a winning symbol combination, the greater the award as compared to an identical winning symbol combination in which fewer wagered-on paylines pass through the same winning symbol combination.
In another type of EGM with reels, the player wagers on a number of ways to win, wherein any award provided to the player is based on the number of associated symbols that are generated in active symbol positions on a requisite number of adjacent reels. In such ways to win EGMs, the EGM determines any outcome to provide to the player based on the number of associated symbols which are generated in active symbol positions on a requisite number of adjacent reels (i.e., not on paylines passing through any displayed winning symbol combinations).
In some known ways to win EGMs, the total number of ways to win is determined by multiplying the number of symbols generated in active symbol positions on a first reel by the number of symbols generated in active symbol positions on a second reel by the number of symbols generated in active symbol positions on a third reel and so on for each reel of the EGM with at least one symbol generated in an active symbol position. For example, a three reel EGM with three symbols generated in active symbol positions on each reel includes 27 ways to win (i.e., 3 symbols on the first reel×3 symbols on the second reel×3 symbols on the third reel). A four reel EGM with three symbols generated in active symbol positions on each reel includes 81 ways to win (i.e. 3 symbols on the first reel×3 symbols on the second reel×3 symbols on the third reel×3 symbols on the fourth reel). A five reel EGM with three symbols generated in active symbol positions on each reel includes 243 ways to win (i.e., 3 symbols on the first reel×3 symbols on the second reel×3 symbols on the third reel×3 symbols on the fourth reel×3 symbols on the fifth reel). Modifying the number of generated symbols by either modifying the number of reels or modifying the number of symbols generated in active symbol positions by one or more of the reels modifies the number of ways to win.
There is a continuing need to provide new and exciting manners of evaluating symbols to determine awards to increase player enjoyment, entertainment, and excitement.